How to get a Casus Belli?

[unmerged(137506)]

Hey does anyone know how to get a casus belli. I have the mission to take macedonia but it'll give me a -2 stab hit if I declare war without a casus belli. Is there any way to get one so I won't have this problem?

 

[unmerged(130827)]

An easy mean to get a CB is trying to murder an enemy character.
If you are discovered, the enemy could executate your spy and give you a CB.
It's better to choose a bad spy in order to not loose a character with good stats.

 

[unmerged(137506)]

Thanks!

God damn it! The religious faction is the most powerful in the senate and they won't sign off on this. Damn looks like I'll have to take the stab hit and attack before the mission ends.

 

[unmerged(33392)]

An assasinate mission on any macedonian character will give them a causus belli against you, they might take it depending on the situtation. If that fails there is still the chance they will imprisson or execute your assasin character which would give you a causus belli on them

Bear in mind you are exchanging the stability hit for an infamy hit since in order for them to get the causus belli and being able to execute your character your character has to be discovered doing it (wether he actually kills the target or utterly fails doesn't matter) and that will up your infamy (+2 I think).

Oh btw, since you want to be discovered don't send your best "spy" but rather a poor one (low finesse) and by all means if the patriot puting himself in great danger for the good of your country happens to be a problematic character (low loyalty, potential civil war starter, dangerous populist...) all the better for you .... :rofl:

Edit: If you want to lessen your religious fation senate influence use omens at all times, but be carefull with populists, religious faction might be the only thing standing between populists and senate control depending on the circumstances, and a religion faction no matter how bad its members are is always better than a great populist faction.

 

[unmerged(137506)]

Well I can't go the assassin route, but I'm hesitant to get the stab hit. Is there any other way?

I heard of another way but it doesn't seem to be working. Maybe in Vae Victus it doesn't work anymore. The guide said to demand tribute and when they refuse you get a casus belli. Well I demanded tribute, they refused but still there's the -2 stab hit when I go to declare war! What's wrong? Was the guide lying?

EDIT: Also how do you choose to send different envoys? I don't see any way of changing who gets sent.

 

[Ixtli613]

Are you sure you read the guide right? If you are getting tribute from another nation and they cancel the tribute (or become unable to pay it) you get a CB, but not if they simply decline your tribute offer.

 

[fmurciap]

You will get a casus belli if another nation:
-Imprisons, executes o murders (and get caught) a character of yours.
-Desecrates one of your temples or incites rebellion. I'm not sure for seducing (try to seduce?) a governor
-Stops paying tribute: beware! they must have been paying tribute, not simply reject to begin to pay.

So to force a casus belli you can try desecration, inciting rebellion, seduction or, the most effective, murder. You need to be discovered (no matter if success or failure) and your hit-man to be executed or at least put to jail. To ensure that result, it is better if your character has low finesse, but also high (at least not very low) loyalty.

I think that relative forces also play a role, so it's possible that your tiny neighbour, glimpsing your 30 cohort XX Legion at the border, shall clench teeth and say 'It's been an accident, wasn't it?'

 

[unmerged(33392)]

Well I can't go the assassin route, but I'm hesitant to get the stab hit. Is there any other way?

If you have that option grayed out it's either:
a) You got caught trying to assasinate someone some time ago when this happens you can't try that sort of mission for quite a lot of time (18 months I think)
b) Your Senate is blocking the action if that's the case, get a stronger "Chief of State" with a stronger party backing him and higher popularity to get more votes in the senate (you need at least 40 to be allowed any action, 60 is better since either you get a small popularity hit for your "chief of state")

Note you can see senate's opinion on any action hovering the mouse over the small icon just left of the button for that action, if it's case 'a' you'll get a warning while hovering your mouse over the mission button stating so.

If you use the diplomatic mode (not the diplomatic buttons on the province info screen) once you are in the tab to choose action, at the top there is a button syaing choose envoy, there you can change the envoy, very usefull specially when declaring war since characters used to declare war tend get killed so you want to use someone you don't mind dying and not your best diplomat(charisma) or spy(finesse).

Tip: When you don't understand something about the game hover your mose above anything that looks like a button, number display etc, hopefully you'll find your answer in one of them

 

[Cheexsta]

You can also guarantee the independence of other countries (heck, there's no disadvantage in not guaranteeing all of the countries around you!). When a country declares war on a guaranteed state, you get a CB against the aggressor for 12 months, so it's often good to guarantee states that surround particularly aggressive countries (I'm looking at you, Seleucus).

Problem with this is that in EUR, the AI appears much more timid and less likely to declare war. So, the scummy way into a war is to use the assassination trick...